Tim Thomas, Roberto Luongo stick to very different styles

BOSTON (AP) — Robert Luongo and Tim Thomas have drastically different styles with one overriding similarity.

By HOWARD ULMAN | AP Sports Writer

BOSTON (AP) - Robert Luongo and Tim Thomas have drasticallydifferent styles with one overriding similarity.

The stay-at-home goalie and the roamer are two of the NHL's bestat their position.

At times, the approach that has worked so well fails: Thomasvacating the net on an overtime goal that gave Vancouver a win inGame 2 of the Stanley Cup finals, then Luongo filling the creasewith his full 6-foot-3 height but still letting eight goals fly byin Boston's win in Game 3.

But their biggest mistake would be to change their styles.

They're not about to do that in Game 4 on Wednesday night withthe Canucks leading the Bruins 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

"I've been playing well all year. I think it's worked out prettywell for me," Luongo said Tuesday, the day after the 8-1 loss. "Imade some adjustments before the year started, so I'm not going toreadjust again."

The Bruins lost the first two games 1-0 and 3-2, although Thomasplayed well. But when Alex Burrows charged ahead in Game 2, Thomaswent out to cut down the angle. Burrows skated around him andcontinued behind the net, then tucked the puck in the far side 11seconds into overtime.

"I have a pretty good idea of how to play goalie," Thomas saidwith a smile after the loss. "I'm not going to be takingsuggestions or advice at this time. I'm just going to keep playingthe way I have."

Thomas led the NHL with a 2.00 goals against average. Luongo wassecond at 2.11. Thomas also topped the league with a .938 savepercentage. Luongo was third among starting goalies at .928.

That pair, plus Pekka Rinne of Nashville, are the finalists forthe Vezina Trophy. In 2009, Thomas won the award given to the NHL'sbest goaltender.

Though they may have occasional lapses, the goalies in thefinals also have the confidence of their teammates and coaches.

While the Bruins' offensive onslaught grabbed the spotlight,Thomas allowed just one goal on 41 shots.

"When you look at the final score, you don't think he had anyimpact on the game, but he had a big impact on the game," Bostoncoach Claude Julien said. "When it's 2-0, some of those big saves,to keep it to that score until we've scored the third one (werecritical). If it's a 2-1 hockey game, now you're giving the otherteam some light and it could have been a different outcome."

Both goalies were sharp through a scoreless first period.

Then the Bruins caught a break when Andrew Ference scored thefirst goal after Vancouver's Alexander Edler broke his stick tryingto clear the puck. Mark Recchi was credited with the second goalwhen his pass into the crease deflected into the net off the stickof Canucks forward Ryan Kesler.

"They got a couple of fortunate bounces and then, all of asudden, the floodgates open and maybe they get a little bit ofconfidence," Luongo said.

He allowed three more goals in the last 21/2 minutes of thegame, but there was plenty of blame to go around - and a lot offaith that Luongo would bounce right back.

"He's done it all year, so that's not a problem," NHL scoringchampion Daniel Sedin said. "You can't really say it was his fault.I think, as a team, we didn't help him out. They scored (two goals)on the power play and (two) on our power play, which should nothappen."

Luongo doesn't have to go very far back to remember the lasttime he struggled.

Vancouver won the first three games of the opening round againstChicago. One more win and the Canucks would be on to the nextround. But they lost the next two, with Luongo being pulled fromboth of them. Cory Schneider started Game 6 before cramps forcedhim to the bench and brought in Luongo.

Vancouver lost that game but won the seventh - behindLuongo.

Now he has just one day off to recover.

"This is the Stanley Cup finals," Luongo said. "I've waited mywhole life to be here. I'm not going to put my head down. It's timeto get back to work. Obviously, (Monday) night was disappointingfor all of us, but we've got a great opportunity here."

Now that the teams have faced each other three times in sixdays, they might have a better idea about how to beat the opposinggoalie. But it's not that easy, especially when they're sotalented.

"It's not like there's some special book that's floating aroundon how to beat them," Ference said. "It's really just about beingconsistent with throwing pucks at the net. Playoff goals, youalways hear about the greasy ones and traffic in front of the netand rebounds.

"It's no secret. Every team would probably say the exact samecomments about our goalie. Because they're good goalies, that's theonly way you beat them. You don't get them on clean shots from theoutside."

Not very often anyway, even after a horrible game like the oneLuongo must bounce back from.

"This is part of goaltending and you have to have a shortmemory. You can't dwell on what happened," he said. "It might evenbe easier to bounce back from a game like (Monday) night realizingthat we didn't have our best game and we just need to bringit."